Cinematic Releases: Mistress America

Andrew takes on Mistress America.

"This porn is so boring."

Writer-director and frequent Wes Anderson collaborator
Noah Baumbach seems to be hitting his Woody Allen phase. After peaking with Greenberg, Baumbach and his new partner in crime Greta Gerwig seem
content to coast on the crest wave of that film’s success all the while
refraining from breaking new ground. You
could make the argument Baumbach is either losing his edge or is himself
becoming increasingly detached from his already icy characters.

For a director who made such forward
progression with a character who does anything but, Baumbach’s last two
features felt like a vacation on the verge of reeling backwards. Once again, it’s a day in the hedonistic life
of Greta Gerwig in New York City and at one point or another in the
self-absorbed lives of the ensemble cast of characters, a fight will erupt and
nasty insults hurled at one another will fill the air. Fresh off of the more commercially appealing While We’re Young, the director’s second
feature of 2015, Mistress America,
feels more like an undercooked throwback to Frances
Ha than anything else. Where Greenberg seemed to take mumblecore into
a visually expansive yet refined framework, Mistress
America has the do-it-yourself stage presence of most of James Toback’s
filmography.

Performances, as expected from Baumbach, are always
strong and occasionally startling.
Gerwig is always a force of nature all her own and much like the
director, the film is clearly in awe of her even as her character
missteps. Lola Kirke (Gone Girl) as Gerwig’s soon-to-be
stepsister comes into her own as a confident and inseparable ally to Gerwig and
although her presence is largely overshadowed by Gerwig she can definitely hold
her own. Among the film’s strongest
assets is the electronic score by Britta Phillips and Dean Wareham, echoing the
synthesized twee of New Order’s Your
Silent Face with just a hint of Portlandia. It’s a bright and colorful listen in its own
right and lends the film a lighthearted comic tone, providing a cushion for
when the unexpectedly heavier exchanges ensue.
As with all of Baumbach’s films, there’s a recurring theme of stunted
emotional growth and the tightrope walk between youth and adulthood. There’s also, unlike his contemporary Wes
Anderson, a mean streak running through his work which has the capacity to lash
out with unrelenting cruelty. Where
Anderson’s storybook visual style tempered the flames, Baumbach’s lack of
filter tends to fan them.

"Yeah. The way we dress isso boring too."

That said, While
We’re Young had a conventional narrative structure that made the feuding
protagonists’ plight easier to latch onto where Mistress America is a bit of a mess that’s harder to invest in
emotionally.As it unfolded, my thoughts
kept drifting back to Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky
which observed the life of a woman and her group of friends in the city.Where that film also lacked a plot, it did
manage to provide a heroine full of life and spirit guiding us through the
film’s formless design.With Mistress America, we get the opposite
and while that’s to be expected of the director who usually dabbles in
miserable consternation, it’s a bit tougher to care about anyone in this
case.On the one hand Greta Gerwig is
undeniably a leading lady in the movies with personality and physique that’s
felt in every scene she inhabits and as always the dialogue is sharp and witty.On the other hand, Baumbach’s lesser of his
two 2015 features has a tendency to meander and after it’s all said and done we
unfortunately come up short.